Hitler's Mein Kampf Is Coming Back to German Stores for the First Time in Decades

Because all history—the good and the bad—should never be forgotten, and because we must learn from our failures along with our successes, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf is returning to Germany. The book, penned by the most evil man in recent (or really all of) history, returns to the country after being banned by the Allies in 1945. And it returns, as The New York Times points out, during "a time when nationalist and far-right politics are again ascendant in Europe."

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According to The Times, it took a team of scholars and historians three years to assemble a 2,000-page edition of the book with about 3,500 annotations. While the book, for obvious reasons, made a contested return to the country, those who led the effort, Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, argued that its return was necessary.

"Nevertheless, there is widespread agreement on a decisive point," the institute's director Andreas Wirsching said. "It would be completely irresponsible to allow this jumble of inhumanity to be released into the public domain without commentary, without countering it through critical references that put the text and its author in their place."

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That aside, it couldn't have come at a shittier time for Europe, as The Timesnotes:

The republication, even with critical annotations, of a work that advocated an Aryan "master race" comes as Germany finds itself at a crossroads after one million migrants, many fleeing conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan, crossed its borders over the past year. Chancellor Angela Merkel has found herself struggling to maintain popular support for her migrant policy amid concerns about the social and economic costs of accepting the new arrivals, as well as over religious extremism and national security.